War Letters of a Public-School BoyJones, Henry Paul Mainwaring
History
War Letters of a Public-School Boy
Jones, Henry Paul Mainwaring
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, British
At Dulwich the school year is full and various. In addition to the
acquisition of knowledge there is much else to engage a boy's
interest--cricket, football, fives, swimming, the gymnasium, athletic
competitions, the choir; and then those red-letter days--Founder's
Day, with its Greek, French or German play, the Prize Distribution and
the Concerts. Our son bore his share in every phase of this varied
life. He had a warm corner in his heart for the College Mission, which
maintains a home in Walworth for boys without friends or relatives and
enables them to be trained as skilled artisans. The home has
accommodation for twenty-one boys; a married couple look after the
house work, and two old Alleynians are in residence. He never failed
after he left the College to send an annual subscription anonymously
to the Mission funds. An enthusiastic lover of music, he was for years
in the College Choir, singing latterly with the basses.
At the 1913 Founder's Day celebration Paul took a subsidiary part,
that of Fitzwater, in a scene from Shakespeare's _Richard II_, on
which occasion the King was brilliantly impersonated by E. F. Clarke
(killed in action, April, 1917). On the same occasion Paul was one of
the voyageurs in the scenes from _Le Voyage de Monsieur Perrichon_,
his amusing by-play in that modest role sending the junior school into
roars of laughter. At the 1914 celebration of Founder's Day he took
the part of Fluellen in a scene from _Henry V_, and sustained a very
different role, that of Karl der Sieberite, in a scene from Schiller's
_Jungfrau von Orleans_. Reviewing the performances, _The Alleynian_
said of the former: "In this piece Jones was the comedian. He was
clumsy and not quite at home on the boards, but his Welsh was
delightful."
Of his performances as Charles VII in Schiller's play the critic
wrote:
The scene chosen is one of the most powerful scenes in the play.
It is that in which the King, sceptical of the divine
inspiration of the Maid, determines to test her by substituting a
courtier upon his throne.... When she is not only not deceived,
but proceeds also to interpret many of the King's innermost
thoughts, the surprise of the monarch, passing into hushed
reverence, calls for a studied piece of careful acting. H. P. M.
Jones sustained this part, and sustained it well. He gave it the
dignity which it needed, and if his natural gift of physical
stature helped him somewhat, so also did the smooth diction and
easy repose which he had evidently been at pains to acquire.
Of the performance as a whole: "It says a very great deal for the
German in the upper part of the school, that a scene can be enacted in
which both accent and acting can reach so high a level."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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